ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
Built by the people
we serve
Stand in the Gap was founded by people who lived it — and built to stand beside the ones going through it now.
Stand in the Gap was founded by people who lived it — and built to stand beside the ones going through it now.
On January 6, 2021, a defining moment in American history laid bare the fissures within the nation's justice system. What began as a stand for freedom and truth became an arduous battle for justice, dignity, and the preservation of fundamental rights.
In the months that followed, hundreds of defendants faced pre-dawn raids on their homes, with their families bearing witness to the arrests. They were uprooted and relocated across the country, enduring relentless transfers between facilities, prolonged solitary confinement, and the denial of protections they had every right to expect. It lasted 1,475 days.
From that came Stand in the Gap — founded to walk hand in hand with those affected, offering unwavering support, compassionate advocacy, and a steadfast commitment to rebuilding their lives.
What we learned in those years is the reason this Foundation looks the way it does now. The machinery that came down on January 6 families was not built for them and did not stop with them. It runs through family court and CPS hearings. It runs through military tribunals. It runs through guardianship proceedings where a judge signs away a person's rights in an afternoon. Different courtrooms, same pattern: an ordinary family against the full weight of the state, with nobody standing beside them.
So we widened.
Pre-dawn raids, cross-country transfers, solitary confinement. Hundreds of families discover how quickly the ground can give out, and how few people are willing to stand beside them when it does.
The Real J6 is founded to give a voice to the voiceless. What begins as a mission to expose injustice reveals a deeper need: direct, compassionate support for defendants and families navigating isolation, trauma, and a broken system.
Stand in the Gap Foundation is formally established, turning that support into an organization with programs behind it — housing, vehicles, counseling, and confidential peer support delivered by people who had been through it themselves.
The work deepens through the trial and sentencing years. Legal defense support expands alongside hardship relief as families face the longest stretch of the ordeal.
On January 20, pardons and commutations bring the 1,475-day ordeal to an end. Legal forgiveness arrives — and the work of rebuilding actually begins, because a pardon does not restore mental health, family ties, or livelihoods.
Operation Restore™ launches, carrying the Foundation beyond January 6 into four initiatives: Stand for Justice™, Bring My Baby Home™, Restore Honor™, and Protect Freedom™. The January 6 work becomes the founding initiative rather than the whole of the mission.
To inspire a nation where no individual or family faces judicial injustice alone, because ordinary people choose to stand in the gap for one another.
We raise awareness, restore lives, and advance meaningful justice reform — uniting the people and organizations already in this fight to make a bigger impact.
No individual or family should face judicial injustice alone. We will stand in the gap, advocate with courage, restore hope, and walk beside them on their journey.
Tell the stories the coverage left out, in the words of the people who lived them, until the pattern is impossible to ignore.
Housing, transportation, counseling, legal filings, and the practical help that decides whether a family recovers or does not.
Change the rules that allowed this. Litigation, policy, and oversight so the next family is not standing where this one stood.
One campaign, four initiatives. Each is built for a different group of people the system has run over, and each is run by people who understand that particular fight from the inside.
Judicial overreach and wrongful conviction. Standing beside those prosecuted for who they are rather than what they did.
Family court, CPS overreach, human trafficking, and medical kidnapping. Reuniting families and protecting children.
Military judicial injustice and the falsely accused. Restoring the freedom, dignity, careers, and futures taken with them.
State guardianship overreach, estate protection, and elderly medical kidnapping. Protecting seniors and vulnerable adults.
Everything we built for January 6 families now lives inside Stand for Justice™ — legal defense, hardship relief, record sealing, recovery of fines and restitution, and federal claims against the government that took them. Nothing was retired and no family was handed off. The work simply has a name now, and a structure that lets us do the same thing for people who were never anywhere near the Capitol.
A small team committed to walking alongside families with compassion, purpose, and resilience.
Sarah lives and breathes this mission every day, advocating for affected families with unmatched drive and heartfelt commitment.
Trisha builds the systems, partnerships, and operating structure that let the Foundation deliver at national scale.
Ryan oversees the Foundation's finances and legal strategy, having worked on the defense side of these cases from the beginning.
Every initiative is led by someone who knows that particular fight from the inside.
Shane brings firsthand experience and deep empathy to Stand in the Gap as a former January 6th defendant, supporting others as they walk the same road he did.
We are seeking a founding coordinator to lead family and child advocacy.
We are seeking a founding coordinator to lead military advocacy.
We are seeking a founding coordinator to lead guardianship and conservatorship advocacy.
Our board offers wisdom, accountability, and unwavering support. Their commitment keeps us grounded, strategic, and centered on the people we serve.
We ask families to trust us with the worst moment of their lives and we ask donors to trust us with their money. Both deserve to see the books. Here are the legal facts, and the government records that confirm them.
The IRS letter of January 22, 2026 classifying the Foundation as a public charity under Sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), correcting an earlier private-foundation classification. The 2023 exemption letter is posted alongside it.
DOWNLOAD THE LETTER →Our 2023 annual return, posted in full on an independent archive. The 2024 and 2025 returns and the financial statements are listed by year on the transparency page.
SEE EVERY FILING →Do not take our word for our status. Search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search by EIN — enter 93-1417599 — and read it off the government’s own record.
OPEN THE IRS SEARCH →We are a small team, so a closed day is genuinely closed — email is not being read. Emergencies do not wait for a calendar: if a family is in crisis, write anyway and mark it urgent.
When a holiday falls on a Saturday we close the Friday before; when it falls on a Sunday we close the Monday after. Reach us any time at info@standinthegap.foundation — we answer on the next open day.
Every gift funds emergency relief, legal filings, and the long work of putting a life back together.
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Help, hope, and healing — for the families still fighting. Every gift goes to a real case, not to overhead.
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